Top 5 CHUCK Episodes…So Far
April 9, 2009 by SB
Man, you guys! There have been so many really great episodes of Chuck that this was a hard list to put together! I know that everyone is going to have different faves and I can’t wait to hear what yours are in the comments. You’ll notice that all of mine come from Season Two, which isn’t a huge surprise since that’s when I feel like the show really, truly hit its stride. The other part of that is that Season One was cut short due to the writers’ strike and was only 13 episodes. But truly, picking out your favorite episodes of Chuck is like picking out your five favorite desserts—anything you pick is going to be a winner!
1. Chuck vs. The Delorean
This episode OWNS me. I am a sucker for everything in it. It’s by far my favorite Sarah episode—I love seeing her backstory and how she got to where she is now, and I think that this was the episode where I realized that the writers truly know their characters thoroughly, in and out, weaknesses and strengths. Gary Cole was outstanding, Chuck stepped comfortably and surprisingly into his spy role, and Josh Schwartz introduced me to a new awesome band (Blitzen Trapper, who I am now in love with). The B-plot also kicked major ass, with Morgan having a Peter Pan complex and Captain Awesome trying to teach him to be a man, which ignited my love for that bromance. Throw in Casey saving the day and you have set my heart on fire.
(Watch the full episode below.)
2. Chuck vs. The Cougars
Well, I graduated in 1999, so I’m right around the right age to REALLY REALLY appreciate this episode. The music was incredible and the nerdy Sarah flashbacks were both painful and funny, and seeing Casey as a DJ just about gave me a heart attack. And I loved the guest stars in this episode—Ben Savage was such a fun, cute, dorky friend for Chuck and I wished we could’ve kept him, and Nicole Richie was just amazing. She was just the right amount of high school bitchy and bad ass evil to make that bloody, wet, hot shower fight SO cathartic. And I love that this show doesn’t take itself too seriously—who DIDN’T give a big “Hells yeah!” when Sarah delivered a beat down on Nicole Richie and then said, “Go Cougars”? Am I right?!?!
(Watch a two-minute recap.)
3. Chuck vs. The Santa Claus
Man, this might be one of the most awesome Christmas episodes of anything ever! It’s crazy because you expect it to be a light and fluffy Christmas episode, and then it takes this incredible turn that no one sees coming. I truly don’t expect to watch Christmas episodes and gasp at the end, but that’s exactly what happened here, and that’s why I love Chuck—for the consistent surprises. (But I don’t want to ruin anything for you!) Michael Rooker is the awesome guest star of the week, Morgan wears an elf costume to great effect, and it’s a FANTASTIC coming together of the various players in Chuck’s life.
(Watch a clip from this episode.)
4. Chuck vs. The Break Up
You know, I was looking at a list of episodes and saw that this one was a Bryce episode, so I kind of discounted it. But then I started thinking, wait, which is the one with the Mighty Jocks? Oh, it’s Chuck vs. The Break Up. And wait, which is the one with Chuck and Casey at the train station, and Casey saves the day and Chuck gets all the credit? Oh, RIGHT, it’s THIS ONE! And then I realized that I was madly in love with this episode after all. As with all my favorite Chuck episodes, this one struck a perfect balance of comedy, drama, action, and angst. With Michael Strahan guest starring, it was pretty much love at first sight!
(Watch a two-minute recap.)
5. Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer
What can I say? The heart wants what it wants and this heart wants Jeff. If you’d asked me before I saw this episode if I wanted a whole Jeff episode, as opposed to his usual one or two completely random and inappropriate comments, I would’ve said no way. But as usual, the writers hit the perfect note and deftly handled Jeff’s character to make him the right amount of crazy without being over-the-top. It was a great shout out to nerds and video games, and who didn’t have “Tom Sawyer” stuck in their head for the rest of that week?
(Video is a two-minute recap.)
Honorable Mentions:
Chuck vs. The Truth—this is where Lou shows up and we get to see what Chuck might have been like as a normal boyfriend, and not as the damsel in perpetual distress. I loved Rachel Bilson and her sandwich making, which reminded me a little bit of that movie Waitress, starring everyone’s favorite Browncoat, and I think it deserves a little love.
And also garnering an honorable mention—pretty much every single other episode of Chuck. I started to add to the honorable mention list and realized I was about to add all of them, which kind of defeats the purpose. Just know, watch a couple and you’ll be as nutty about this show as the rest of us.
How about you guys? Share your Top Fives in the comments!
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Great picks. I especially enjoyed The Santa Clause episode. The world can always use little extra Carl Winslow. The only thing that would have made it better is if Steve Urkel could have somehow been worked into the storyline. You would think a Buy More could be his second home.
I am glad you mentioned Chuck vs. The Truth. It is my favorite episode from the first season and would probably make my top 5 of both seasons. I would also put Chuck vs. The Seduction in the top 5. I thought John Larroquette did a great job in that episode.
Ooh … I like your picks! Mine would probably be:
1. Chuck vs. The Truth – hilarity! Casey has a jaw chiseled by Michaelangelo!
2. Chuck vs. The Cougars – great backstory on Sarah, and the shower fight was amazing!
3. Chuck vs. The Pilot – I’m just a fan of strong pilots in general, and this one ranks almost up there with Pushing Daisies’ “Pie-Lette”
4. Chuck vs. The Sensei – just a good, strong episode, I felt
5. Chuck vs. The Alma Mater – another solid episode, in my opinion
Chuck vs Alama Mater (underrated, backstory, Everquest, glimpse of who Chuck was before the Morgan years)
Chuck vs The Nemesis (Pineapple! Sarah and Bryce kicking butt!)
Chuck vs The Delorean (Best standalone episode/backstory)
Chuck vs The Dream Job (Just Awesome)
Chuck vs The Marlin (First glimpse of what Sarah might do for Chuck the man and not the asset)
Special mention
Chuck vs The Sizzling Shrimp (Am I a tucker?! Captain Awesome at his best)
Man, you guys, I’m so tempted to just be like, “YEAH!” to every specific one you picked that I didn’t, but that will take forever, so just assume that I’m saying it in my head because I totally am. But I do have just one question:
Rebecca, are you messing with me?!?! 🙂
Yes SB, it was hard to choose hehe!
Vs. Truth – When Team Bartowski got affected by the truth serum… Hilarious!
Vs. Marlin – The story between Buy More, Spy World, Ellie and Awesome connected so well.
Vs. Cougars-Chuck protecting Sarah
Vs. DeLorean-Back to the Future references…awesome
Vs. Santa Claus-I loved when the cast was all together.
I am sort of judging my fave episodes by the ones I have seen over and OVER again lol …
Chuck vs the First Date – I loved this episode because of Chuck’s funny moments with Michael Clarke Duncan. Moreover, we see a truly clever side of Chuck as he calls Morgan for the “specs” haha =)
Chuck vs the Fat Lady and Gravitron – I grouped these two together b/c I first really liked the scene with Sarah and Casey jumping up and running to find Chuck when they see that Jill is Fulcrum. The music was also awesome here. And, in the Gravitron episode, when Chuck locks Jill in the car because she was about to shoot Sarah in the back …
Chuck vs the Lethal Weapon – Chuck wobbling after Perseus LOL, and the ending with Chuck’s speech to Sarah and the revealing of the Tron poster. Really awesome ending. And Bloc Party’s “Signs” was great here too.
Chuck vs the Broken Heart – I just loved the “astronomy snap” quote from jeffster. I can watch that scene over and over again. Sarah was also quite good here =)
Chuck vs the Predator – Here the scenes with the Predator and Jeffster, along with Emmett protecting the R7 laptop while the others try to steal it are just hilarious.
Its so hard to pick just five! =)
I just bought the first season to celebrate Chuck week and am currently mmersed in a marathon — it’s too hard to pick any definitive favorites at the moment, but I did love seeing the Casey background in “Chuck vs. the Undercover Lover”
You guy have me jonesing for a CHUCK marathon. I need to go out and buy Season One on DVD. I know…shocking that I don’t own it already.
guys, we all know how much we love chuck and that we would give chuck our support in anyway we can
having read all the comments in the “save one show” campaign in eonline
it is obvious that The Sarah Connor Chronicles is winning the poll
we cannot let chuck lose
so PLEASE VOTE FOR CHUCK
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b107874_save_one_show_help_your_fave_see.html
1. Vs. the Best Friend
2. Vs. the Hard Salami
3. Vs. the Truth
4. Vs. the Sandworm
5. Vs. the Dream Job
1: Dream Job
2: Marlin
3: Truth
4: Alma Mater
5: First Date
They’re all completely “awesome,” in my opinion, but these are the best for me. :]
1. vs. the First Date — This ep has everything we love in it…including soo much Charah! Plus one of my fave exchanges between Casey and Chuck..
Chuck: “You’ll always there to catch me when I fall! Casey, I love you!”
Casey: “Keep it in your pants Bartowski!!!!”
2. Suburbs –Yeah can we say CHARAH, again??? I loved the ending sequence where Chuck got DI’ed…better than a lot of movies I’ve seen.
3. Best Friend — None of us saw this great ep coming, but it was the epitome of everything we love about Chuck. The best fight scene I’ve seen in a LONG time (Sarah vs. Smooth Lau in the car), Sarah’s face when she thought Chuck was dead, and of course…JEFFSTER!!!!
4. Crown Vic — One of my fave scenes ever is when Lester is playing dreidel and they are playing “Pimp Juice”! I LOL every time. And Casey gets to show his loves of the 80’s even more with his Crown Vic…which of course Chuck blows up.
5. Broken Heart — So hilarious. Casey and Alex cleaning those guns was amazing tv! Chuck completely high on nitrous. Charah. Playing Lady Gaga when the strippers come…omg I love it!
I can’t believe how hard this has been for me. I could watch so many episodes over again. As a matter of fact, I’m watch “Chuck vs. the Dream Job” as we speak. Top five:
1. Chuck vs. the Seduction- Two words, John Larroquette, just awesome
2. Chuck vs. the Santa Clause- great having the whole cast together, Yvonne really impressed me with emotions when killing the Fulcrum agent. You could tell it was personal when Chuck’s life was mention.
3. Chuck vs. the Best Friend – The whole spying on Anna thing, and Jeffster (made me want to get a Jeffster T-shirt at cafepress.com) Jeff- We’re gonna rock you hard!”
4. Chuck vs. the De Lorean-The Sara father-daughter relationship was cool to see and also them pulling a Lichtenstein. Great to see the General Lee in this episode too (oh, yeah!)
5. Chuck vs. the Sizzling Shrimp- I just really like this one from season one. Sarah meets Morgan and his addiction to fireworks. Lot’s of action.
That’s my five, and I can’t disagree with anyone’s list. They are all great.
Chuck vs. Santa Claus (All the cast together for most of the show + comedy, action, romance and angst. Chuck at its finest.)
Chuck vs. the Wookie (“My middle name is Lisa”, one of the first times you get to see the depth and awesomeness of Yvonne’s acting.)
Chuck vs. the Delorean (The whole con sequence involving the Nagamichi plaza, “Cop Face” and “DeMorgan” – enough said)
Chuck vs. the Alma Mater (Great re-telling of some back story, and great use of Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger)
Chuck vs. the First Date (Kicked off the 2nd season so strongly, and for my shipper heart, Charah’s second first date sold this episode for me)
Honorable Mention:
Chuck vs the Dream Job and Chuck vs the Truth and the Pilot
I totally agree, sooo hard to pick just five.
… vs Tom Sawyer : Video games. Geeks. Rush. Chuck gets his diploma. Sarah saying great things about chuck at the end….
… vs the Best Friend : Sarah’s reaction when she thinks Chuck died….
… vs The Lethal Weapon : as mentioned by another, what Chuck says to Sarah at the end, and what’s behind the Tron poster….
… vs the Dream Job : Daddy….
… vs the First Date
1.Chuck vs the Wookie — the first real Charah moment at the end, when Chuck asks if he can know one true thing about Sarah.
2. The Pilot — The start of my Chuck obsession
3. Chuck vs The Hard Salami
4. Chuck vs the Truth
5. Chuck vs The Break Up
All of these , except for the Pilot, I realize I love for the Charah moments. As much as I love the comedy, mystery and action, I am a sucker for the romance.
In no particular order…
“Chuck vs. The Undercover Lover” – It’s all about the girlie scream and the “how d’ya like me now, sucka?!” and “Sugar Bear” and one of my favorite lines of the series: “Casey, I don’t want to die a man stewardess!”
“Chuck vs. The Dream Job” – This episode proved that “Chuck” can do intense and it can do it WELL.
“Chuck vs. The Truth” – Quite possibly one of the funniest episodes ever. “Who’s there? The NSA, CIA, and me, which is a little harder to explain.”
“Chuck vs. The Best Friend” – I like feeling warm and fuzzy after I watch TV. And my heart was VERY full after this one.
“Chuck vs. The Delorean” – I before E except after T.
1. Chuck Versus The Best Friend
2. Chuck Versus The Broken Heart
3. Chuck Versus The Sensei
4. Chuck Versus The Truth
5. Chuck Versus The Break-Up
Chuck vs. The Alma Mater is one of the few I can remember by name, not having watched the eps multiple times (i.e. more than 3 – ask me about Grey’s Anatomy)
This last ep – cause of Scott, cause Scott was Dad, and cause Scott was Orion. Mostly my mind can’t handle the confluence on the whole Chuck world, and Scott – both of which I love.
Aside from that, I *would* have to take the time to go back, though Tom Sawyer I recall as pretty awesome.
Any time that Chuck’s inherent geekdom saves the day is a good episode.
i have to confess that I am a Season 2 convert albeiit a zealous one so I am not sure I’ve seen all of S1 – so I defer to you all. All I know is that the last 5 eps are still on my DVR and I can’t bring myself to delete them. So the last 5 seem to be my top 5, but other faves that I recall are mentioned including the Delorean, Tom Sawyer, and the seduction (love Laroquette).
Kerry, you go girl for buying Chuck on DVD in celebration of Chuck Week!
I love reading everyone’s favorites–they’re all so different, and it’s so enlightening about what everyone loves in the show. 🙂
I forgot to give my Honorable Mention- Chuck Vs. the Alma Mater- Loved the backflashes to Chuck’s past and finding out Bryce’s true motives in gettin him kicked out of Stanford (to protect him from a dangerous life working for the government). And now we know that Chuck has a family heritage with the U.S. Government. It is all tying together. Thought it was great how Ellie and Awesome were tied into it with the football game.
Having seen all the eps multiple times, I’m finding it hard to pick five. These two for sure;
Chuck vs. The Seduction
Chuck vs. The Delorean
and all the rest about even…love them all.
In season 1, I loved vs The Truth, vs Imported Hard Salami and vs. The Wookie
In season 2, vs Seduction, Santa Clause, Best Friend and Suburbs.
Ok, so those add up to 7… lol
Sorry, it was hard to choose!
My top 7 (in no particular order, just too hard to pick 5)
1. Chuck vs the Seduction
2. Chuck vs the Delorean
3. Chuck vs the Predator
4. Chuck vs the Pilot
5. Chuck vs the Truth
6. Chuck vs the Cougars
7. Chuck vs the Best Friend
Honorable mention:
vs the marlin, vs the nemesis, vs the santa clause, vs the suburbs
love the show from season 1 to season 2 fuck nbc for if they cancel chuck
[…] Top 5 Episodes of Chuck […]
Undercover Lover – Casey’s hitherto unseen romantic and tender side in a delicious ‘Casablanca’ homage.
First Date – the Call of Duty game plan used to defeat the bad guy. WIN! “Did someone order drive-through?” [GGG]
Chuck vs Colonel – Adam Baldwin and Scott Bakula share a few moments screen time. The universe nearly explodes with joy :-). “Can you be…awesome?”
Chuck vs Suburbs – Casey the cable guy! Stepford Close, LA. The Dark Intersect. Horatio Caine sunglasses with added telescope feature!
Chuck vs the Ring – Awesome from start to finish. In more ways than one :-). Casey, the wedding planner! Jeffster! “Guys…I know kung fu!”, “Well, Chuck me!”